Bus strike against hike in traffic fines

The Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne today warned that they would launch a countrywide strike by private bus operators if the government failed to remove the minimum penalty of Rs.2,500 for traffic offences as proposed in the 2017 Budget.

“We met Finance Minister Ravi Karunayake on about four occasions to discuss our proposals, but he never told us about increasing the minimum penalty discussions regarding our proposals, but he didn’t mention about increasing the minimum penalty on traffic offenses,” he said.

Mr. Wijeratne said the Budget provides little or no support for the bus services in the country. “The government has reduced the prices of vehicles with an engine capacity of less than 1000cc to encourage vehicle importers and sellers. But there is no benefit to bus services,” he said. (Chaturanga Pradeep)